Characterization of a novel Brassica napus kinase, BNK1

A novel plant protein kinase, designated Brassica napus kinase 1 (BNK1), wa s isolated from a gimel -pistil cDNA library. The deduced BNK1 protein cont ains all eleven conserved subdomains of a kinase and encodes a functional s erine/threonine protein kinase. Phylogenetic analysis of several plant prot ein kinase subfamilies showed that BNK1 is most closely related to the NAK subfamily of protein kinases. Genomic Southern blot analysis revealed that BNK1 is a single copy gene in the B. napus genome and does not appear to be a member of a multigene family. Expression studies revealed that the BNK1 transcript was ubiquitously expressed throughout the plant, with highest le vels in stem and pistil tissues. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.